Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
Parallel translations
- WEB Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, lest you eat too much, and vomit it.
- BSB If you find honey, eat just what you need, lest you have too much and vomit it up.
- NKJV Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, Lest you be filled with it and vomit.
- NASB Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, So that you do not have it in excess and vomit it.
- NLT Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Enjoy honey in moderation, for too much will make you sick. Even good things must be enjoyed with restraint.
Overview
Honey is good, yet overindulgence brings harm, teaching the wisdom of moderation and self-control. The proverb affirms God's good gifts while warning against excess (1 Cor 6:12). It sets up verse 27's caution that even pursuing honor can be overdone.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 25:27It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.
- Eph 5:18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
- Prov 24:13–14My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
- 1 Sam 14:25–27And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.
- Isa 7:15Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
- Luke 21:34And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
- Judg 14:8–9And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
- Prov 23:8The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
- Isa 7:22And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 25:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.